Chapter III:

The Padawans

Corintheus Thoram hopped out of the open cockpit and into the driving rain of the outside world. Master Yoda busied himself gathering their supplies inside the ship, packing only the necessities into a green woolen bag, including Corintheus's lightsaber. The curved titanium handle lay nestled between a data pad and a handful of emergency flares in the central holding console. Corintheus temporarily forgot about the weapon in his desire to view this new planet, to feel it and experience its essence. Only the distant bolts of lightning and the clash of metal on metal in the deeper darkness of the grand forest before him distracted his meditation.

"Need this, you will," Master Yoda called, to which Corintheus nodded and extended his right palm behind him. The cool steel of his lightsaber, with its flawless twin rubies embedded into it, came as a welcome sensation to Corintheus, a poignant reminder that he should keep his focus on the here and now. Peering intently into the shadows of the wilderness, the young human was eventually able to make out shapes moving about in there. The sounds of a great battle taking place were unmistakable after a moment, even above the continuous blasts of thunder in the sky. Angry clouds from the north had rushed in to obscure the stars and the crescent moon, converged primarily over the forest proper.

"Master?" Corintheus murmured over his shoulder toward the starship.

"Yes, Padawan," Yoda replied at length, even now coming out of the ship to join the young man.

Corintheus looked down at his diminutive Master, watched as Yoda tossed the traveling bag onto the grass at his feet, his tattered brown robe sticking to his body like a second skin after only a few seconds in this whipping downpour. Nodding toward the heart of the forest, Corintheus said, "We should go and see what is going on, Master. This is a new world, one which we may not be leaving for a while if our ship refuses to function here. My thinking is to get started immediately on acquainting ourselves with the locals. What is your thinking?"

Master Yoda did not answer at first. He merely studied his apprentice for a few moments, long ears twitching in the rain. Then, looking into the darkness of the great forest, the Jedi Master observed the gravity of the situation at hand. Quite simply, there weren't an awful lot of options to explore right now, other than the one Corintheus had just offered, for the X-Falcon II was indeed out of commission for the time being. Its engines were currently nonresponsive to all controls, as was the weapons system. Only the interior lights and the interpreting modulator were functioning at present. That gave Yoda pause. He opened the folds of his robes and summoned his own lightsaber to his hand, its sleek black metal flying instantly into his leathery green palm. The Force - or the Weave, as the mysterious voice had called it - was definitely responsive here, just as the voice had promised. In fact, it seemed alive with new energy levels that were altogether foreign to Master Yoda, vibrating with the thoughts and philosophies of many distinct personas that were an integral part of the whole. In a way, it was not so dissimilar to the wider currents of the Living Force back home. Mostly, it varied in its potency from one aspect to the other. One persona in particular felt all-encompassing, mysterious and all-seeing, while another felt somewhat diminished by comparison, yet powerful and wise and charismatic in its own right.

Clearing his thoughts, the Jedi Master ignited his lightsaber, its emerald green energy crackling to life, hissing and letting off tendrils of steam in the whirling rain. "We go," Yoda finally announced. Corintheus nodded and ignited his own weapon, visibly glad to see that his, too, was operational. By comparison to Yoda's lightsaber, Corintheus's was a sickle-shaped beam that shone pure white in the darkness of the night, a testament of the extremely rare crystals from his home planet, Naboo, which the young human had found and used to construct his weapon. "Only the code of the Council must you remember," Yoda elaborated.

"No side in this conflict of otherworlders shall we take. If attacked we are, then defend ourselves we must. But no killing or maiming or dismembering will we do. As observers only, we present ourselves first. When discover we do which of these locals are friendly to visitors, then attempt to communicate with them and learn what can be done about our situation we shall." That said, the diminutive alien switched off his lightsaber and dashed into the forest with the speed of an earthbound comet.

Corintheus followed immediately thereafter, rushing to catch up to the little brown streak in the darkness ahead. The radiant white glow of his own lightsaber was a beacon in the heart of the woods, which the young Padawan realized belatedly and switched it off in midsprint. Corintheus soon came to an abrupt halt at Master Yoda's side behind a tall evergreen tree, still beyond the influence of the battle, but not so distant as to be immune to getting caught in the crossfire at any moment. Corintheus stared through the branches and needle-thin leaves to witness more clearly the nature of the conflict and the factions involved. One side representated a race of ebon-skinned, athletically built sentients with stark white hair and glowing red eyes. The other side was similar in build and in the pointed tips of their ears, but were fair-skinned, with either golden or dark hair, eyes also of a variety of colors.

So it was a racial war, Corintheus noted. "Who is the aggressor here, I wonder?" he breathed, the sound of his voice blanketed by the continuous thunder, as well as the impact of unnatural lightning and balls of fire and acid.

"Obvious, that should be, young Thoram," said Yoda during a momentary lull, indicating that his own ears were still sharp as ever. "Those who from above their enemies in the trees fight, defenders are they. On the ground level, invaders lay seige to a territory not their own."

As if someone had just heard the exchange between Master and Padawan, a neon bolt of lightning slashed the space between them, blasting a smoldering hole in the center of the evergreen. Yoda and Corintheus leaped to either side, dropping into rolls through piles of leaves and shrubbery. When again they stood, they found many red-glowing eyes suddenly looking their way. Concealed in the flickering shadows, the dark-skinned warriors closest to the Jedi's vicinity approached as a unit. There were ten of them, more than half bearing wounds of varying severity, wielding steel blades that nevertheless crackled with latent energy of some sort. One of the creatures spoke, which neither Yoda nor Corintheus could understand, of course.

"I knew we should have brought a droid with us," Corintheus complained.

"Beginning to agree am I."

Lightsabers once more dissipated the darkness. Green and white energy sizzled and hissed as the rain continued to fall. As coordinated and professionally trained as these dark warriors clearly were, they could not begin to make up for the sudden terrifying speed that Master Yoda and Corintheus Thoram employed to defend themselves. Living dust devils wielding weapons from a different time and a different galaxy spun gradually toward each other, blades trailing light and humming a deadly tune, as they worked their way through their would-be assailants. When each enemy was effectively disarmed and knocked to the ground, Master and apprentice again stood side-by-side.

More eyes were quick to notice, including some from amongst the tree-bound defenders. Wooden, steel-tipped projectiles swept the area, as did more lightning and fireballs. Corintheus and Yoda deflected each projectile fired specifically at them. The main concentration of defenders appeared to be located in the northcentral part of the forest, wherein a single tree of exceedingly great stature stood directly in the midst, crawling with pale-skinned archers and spearmen in larger numbers than anywhere else.

"There," Corintheus exclaimed as he deflected another arrow, incinerating the wooden missile on contact. "In the biggest tree of that section over there, Master! I'm going to make a break for it!"

"No," Yoda shouted as he, too, whipped his lightsaber before him in a blinding display. "Here with me, you must remain! Killed you may be, if alone you travel. Not knowing of our intentions are the defenders of this dominion!"

But it was no use. Ever the stubborn one, even as a youngling, Corintheus Thoram summoned his energy reserves for a flying leap. From one tree to the next he went, always just ahead of the few projectiles that sprang from the darkness in an effort to cut him down. Before Master Yoda knew it, his Padawan learner had landed firmly on the highest rampart fashioned into the tree he had indicated, his cloaked form instantly swallowed by the press of bodies, which had briefly parted to allow him access. Now that he was in their midst, Yoda could see only the top of his hooded head - followed shortly by his upraised hands. Neither hand now held his lightsaber, either, Yoda noticed.

The Jedi Master sighed in disgust, then darted off into the shadows, traveling a roundabout course that would take him to the backside of that fortress of a tree. He could only hope and pray it was not already too late.

"May the Weave be with us," he whispered to himself.